Answer
$12x^4 - 3x^3 - 9x^2 + x - 8$
$\text{This is a quartic polynomial of five terms.}$
Work Step by Step
To figure the degree of a polynomial, we look to the term with the highest power. Let's rewrite this expression in terms of descending powers:
$12x^4 - 3x^3 - 9x^2 + x - 8$
This polynomial is now written in standard form.
In this polynomial, the term $12x^4$ has the highest power. A fourth degree polynomial can be called "quartic."
There are five terms in this polynomial with the highest term being quartic, so we call it a quartic polynomial of five terms. There is no special name for a polynomial with more than three terms.
